Railroad signal



M. GORDON.

RAILROAD SIGNAL. APPLlCATlON FILED JUNE 15, I920- 1,404,020. Patented J17, 1922.

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MICHAL GORDON, OF BiClFFALO, NEW YORK.

RAILROAD SIGNAL.

To all 10720122 it may concern Be it known that I. MroHiiL GORDON, acitizen of Poland, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailroad Signals, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inrailroad signals of that type embodying an audible alarm placed intooperation upon the passing of the car wheels over and upon a trippositioned beside one of the tracks.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an alarm ofthe above kind that is of such simple and durable construction as tomeet with all of therequirernents for a successful use with littledanger of getting out of order.

A further object of the invention is to provide arailroad signalembodying a casing carrying all of the operative parts of the signal andcapable of being readily clamped against the side of a rail through theuse of the ordinary bolts used at the rail joint.

Other objects will appear as the nature of the invention is betterunderstood and the same consists in the novel form, combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in theaccom panying drawing and claimed.

In the drawing forming a part of this application and in which likedesignating characters refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view showing asignal constructed in accordance with the present invention applied at arail joint,

Figure 2 is an end elevational view thereof with the trip in its normalposition,

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the trip depressed by acar wheel,

Figure 4: is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon lineIVIV of Fig. 2,

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon line VVof Fig. 1, and

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon line VIVIof Fig. 1.

Referring more in detail to the several views, the present inventionembodies a preferably rectangular casing 5 whose rear wall is providedwith opposite hook-shaped ex- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

1920. Serial No. 389,172.

tensions (5 adapted to rest upon and partially embrace the bolts 7 ofthe rail joint between the nuts 8 threaded on said bolt and the adjacentfish plate 9 whereby the casing is effectively rigidly secured inposition beside the rail. The receptacle 5 is provided with hinged enddoors 10 provided with suitable locks 11 which may be manipulated by anauthorized person for obtainlng access to the interior of the casingwhen found necessary or desirable.

The top wall of the casing 5 is provided with a slot as at 12, adjacentthe back of the casing, and a vertically slidable trip 13 is movablethrough the slot in a vertical direction and normally maintainedupwardly in the path of the car wheel a by means of a helicalcompression spring 1d which is dis posed within the casing with itslower end surrounding an upwardly projecting post 15, which is rigidwith the casing and its upper end surrounding a hammer or stud 16 whichis rigid with and depends from aplate 17 secured to the enlarged base 18of the trip The enlarged base 18 provides an abutment for limiting theupper movement of the trip 13, and the plate 17 which is of electricconducting material is insulated from the base 18 by means of a rubberor like strip 19.

The upper end of the post is formed for reception of an explosive cap 20adapted to be exploded by impact of the hammer 16 thereon upondepression of the trip 13 by the car wheel so as to provide a signal ofthis kind when found necessary in place of the. usual torpedoes in useat the present time.

Suitable spring strips 21 are provided upon the bottom of the casing 5to form a holder for the electric battery cells 22, it being theintention to employ one cell at a time and to have others at hand asshown in Figure 5 for being placed into immediate use upon expenditureof the electricity in the battery already in use. As shown in Figures 4and 5 one of the battery cells 22 is connected by a wire 23 to oneterminal 24 of an electric bell 25 which is preferably rigidly fastenedto the back wall of the casing 5 in any suitable manner, and the otherterminal 26 of the bell 25 is connected by a wire 27 to a spring stripcontact 28. The contact 28 is fastened preferably as at 29, to the frontwall of the casing 5, and extends rearwardly 'to the other pole of thebattery cell 22 by a wire 33. It will thus be seen that when the trip 13is depressed against the action of the spring21, the plate 17 and itscontacts 30 and 32 bridge the strips 28 and 31 so as to complete acircuit including the battery cell 2 and the bell 25 so that an alarm issounded intermittently as the car wheels pass over said trip 13.Obviously, any one of the wires 23, 27, and 33 may be temporarilydisconnected or a manually operable switch may be provided in thecircuit so as to render the electric alarm inoperative except whendesired to be used as occasion may require. It will also be seen that byopening the doors 10, the battery cells may be re newed from time totime together with the explosive cap 20 or any other renewable or repairwork may be accomplished with respect to the parts in the casing 5.

The front wall of the casing 5 is provided with numerous elongated slots34 so as to permit the soundwaves to leave the recepdistinctly heard atsome distance from the I alarm. g

It will thus be seen that the present device embodies a portableself-contained alarm which may be readily applied for use and which isextremely simple in construction and efficient'in operation. I

From the foregoing description it is believed that the construction andoperation as well as the advantages of the present invention will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art.

VMinor changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

' A signal of'the class described comprising a casing adapted forattachment to a railroad rail, a car wheel actuated trip projectingthrough the casing, spring means normally tending to project thetrip-from the casing, an electric alarm circuit, contact 'points'carriedby the trip, and spring con tact members boltedto the inside front wallof the casing and extending rearwardly therein adapted to underlie thecontact points of the trip for completing the electric alarm circuitwhen the said trip is depressed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MICHAL GORDON.

